National Consultant-C4D (Emergency); Dhaka; Only for Bangladeshi

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Background:

UNICEF Bangladesh Country Programme aims to support the Government’s efforts in advancing the realization of the rights of children, particularly the most disadvantaged and marginalized in both development and emergency context. Due to the global pandemic and to align the programme with 8^th five-year plan and UNSDCF, the country programme has been extended till December 2021 which will be followed by a new five-year country programme 2022-2026.

Bangladesh is susceptible to different types of multi-hazard situations and at high risk of facing humanitarian crisis. Natural disasters like cyclone, flood, landslides due to heavy rainfall are common phenomenon that lead to greater vulnerability for communities and affect thousands of children and their families almost every year. Cyclones and associated storm surges and floods have led to almost 520,000 natural disaster-related deaths recorded over the past 40 years (ref: Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery report). The country is also at high-risk of earthquake as five geological fault lines run through the country. The country has been responding to the Rohingya refugee crisis which has restarted following the attacks on the Myanmar Border Guard Police posts in the Rakhine state on 25 August 2017. Cox’s Bazar District is hosting over 877,000 Rohingya refugees at this stage being supported by humanitarian agencies. Outbreak of emerging diseases like dengue, chikungunya, NIPA etc disrupt the country’s regular health service system as well as affect the economy. COVID-19 global pandemic added to this already existing challenging situation and put the entire country’s health and socio-economic condition in a more difficult situation.

The Government of Bangladesh moved promptly as the first case of COVID-19 was identified in the country in March 2020 and developed the “Bangladesh Preparedness and Response Plan” (BPRP). Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) was included as one of the Pillar of the BPRP which has been co-led by UNICEF. The Government has also launched the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in January 2021 moving forward with the plan to rollout throughout the country. Till 5 May 2021, 2.0% population have been fully vaccinated compared to 3.6% who took at least one dose.

After the peak of the first wave in July 2020, the number of new cases slowly decreased, and only around 300 new cases were reported daily during first week of February 2021. It remained stable until early March 2021. However, from March 8 2021 onwards, there was a sudden rise in daily reported number of COVID-19 cases along with number of death.  It was observed that the mask use had increased in July 2020 to 71%, a substantially decreased in October 2020 to 31%.  Message fatigue, limited message dissemination and community engagement initiatives due to fund constraint might have an adverse effect on the use of mask use and practicing other preventive measures. A consistent, continuous, and coordinated robust RCCE initiative linking with vaccine communication plan is essential to combat the evolving COVID-19 pandemic.   

In order to support government’s efforts to ensure mitigation of risks associated with emergencies, including COVID-19, UNICEF is committed to continuing to support Communication with Communities in Emergency (CwCiE). This will be done through  ensuring up to date  Emergency Preparedness Platform (EPP), development  and implementation of contingency plans through the provision of supplies and information services, community engagement and strengthening feedback and accountability mechanism. Cox’s Bazar Office has been implementing interventions to support roll out of initiatives for Accountability to Affected Population (AAP) in both camps and host communities. Lesson learned from engaging communities in Cox’s Bazar as well as UNICEF’s global experiences can be adapted for other parts of the country, especially in the COVID-19 context to strengthen AAP and enhancing social accountability.   

In addition to supporting the regular emergency related activities, as the co-lead of the multi-ministerial/multi development partner Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) group, UNICEF on-going  technical support for coordination of RCCE efforts with different stakeholders, platforms, networks and national committees is crucial. This vast area of emergency related work requires a dedicated human resource in the form of a national consultant to provide the required technical support to ensure timely and quality C4D technical support in emergencies  for communicating with communities in Emergencies and for RCCE. .

In line with the Annual Rolling Work Plan 2021 and the officewide individual consultant plan, Communication for Development (C4D) section is proposing to hire a national consultant (Emergencies) at  NO3 level, to provide C4D technical support noted above  at national and sub-national levels. The hiring will follow a competitive process.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:  

The Consultant will provide support in strengthening RCCE coordination, RCCE interventions of UNICEF and to  C4D planning at  national and sub-national level emergency preparedness and response plans (EPRP). The specific objective of this assignment will be to provide technical support in the following areas:

• Contribute to linking national level RCCE messages with Cox’s Bazar RCCE efforts ensuring contextualization.
• Design gender and culture sensitive RCCE interventions to enhance preparedness/awareness before the onset of Cyclones/Monsoon rains.
• Revise and include appropriate C4D updates in UNICEF’s Emergency Preparedness Platform (EPP).
• Review Accountability to Affected Population (AAP) initiative of Cox’s Bazar and develop an action plan for replicating and adaptation of successes in  in other parts of the country
• Provide technical support to Community engagement initiatives of RCCE and other emergency response such as Community Support Team (CST) and BRAC’s Community Fort initiative, NGO network’s community engagement efforts to ensure consistency and avoiding duplications.
• Designing strategic RCCE/SBCC approaches reflecting how programming (including preparedness/Child-Centered-DRR and Resilience building) can be enhanced and strategically aligned with humanitarian and development interventions
• Provide technical support to RCCE Pillar level.

Work Assignment Overview
Tasks/Milestone:	Deliverables/Outputs:	Timeline
Contribute in linking national level RCCE messages with Cox’s Bazar RCCE efforts ensuring contextualization. Design gender and culture sensitive RCCE interventions to enhance preparedness/awareness before the onset of Cyclones/Monsoon rains. Revise and include appropriate updates in UNICEF’s Emergency Preparedness Platform (EPP). Review Accountability to Affected Population (AAP) initiative of Cox’s Bazar and develop an action plan to implement relevant activities in other part of the country Provide technical support to Community engagement initiatives of RCCE and other emergency response such as Community Support Team (CST) and BRAC’s Community Fort initiative, NGO network’s community engagement efforts to ensure consistency and avoiding duplications. Designing strategic RCCE/SBCC approaches reflecting how programming (including preparedness/Child-Centered-DRR and Resilience building) can be enhanced and strategically aligned with humanitarian and development interventions Provide technical support to RCCE Pillar level activities	National level RCCE messages are  shared with Cox’s Bazar C4D and technical support provided to contextualize messages  C4D guide/checklist on gender and culture sensitivity to inform disaster preparedness plans with focus on Cyclones/Monsoon rains developed EPP  updated twice Action plan submitted based on the lessons learned on AAP initiative of Cox’s Bazar Technical support provided to community engagement initiatives including CST, BRAC and NGO networks, etc. and a set of recommendations submitted to C4D section to ensure effective implementation of RCCE initiatives avoiding duplications RCCE/SBCC strategic guide on DRR aligned with C4D humanitarian and development interventions RCCE archiving (shared drive) updated with reports, RCCE materials, research findings etc.	1 June -14 July 2021             15 July  -14 Sept 2021       15 Sep-14 Dec 2021             15 Dec 2021 -30 Apr 2022

Education/Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• An Advanced University Degree in social and behavioral science, sociology, anthropology, psychology, education, communication, disaster risk reduction, or other related field.
• Sound knowledge on different social issues preferably Behavioral and Social Norms related issues and communicating with communication in emergency, advocacy and multi-stakeholder partnership issues in the Bangladesh context.
• Relevant experience in related areas in a UN system agency or organization.  
• Proven experience in preventing, preparing or responding to emergencies; with experience in managing multi-stakeholder partnerships.
• Experience in RCCE/SBCC/AAP related coordination and implementation
• A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in the field of social development programme planning, behaviour change communication and advocacy.
• Experience working in any other country is considered as an asset.
• Fluency in written and verbal Bangla and English
• High level of Integrity and commitment to responsibilities.
• Conceptual ability, negotiating, communication and advocacy skills.
• Familiarity with UNICEF systems is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

[insert competencies]

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.